Hey, I wanted to share a few things I find as common misconceptions about music production many people are confused with, especially when starting out. I would love to hear your thoughts on this too.
Mixing and mastering are two completely different things - I have seen so many people getting confused with mixing and mastering, which are 2 completely different processes and each has a different goal. The mixing is really the balancing and blending all of the tracks of a song, ensuring each sound sits in the right space with the right frequencies at the right levels, that there are no conflicting sounds, peaking parts, etc. During mixing a professional engineer may also add effects like reverb and delay, may decide to change the kick drum and a lot more to achieve the best possible result. The mastering is the final touch, when the track is balanced as a whole with a few extra touches, which are mainly up to preference. Many suggest that mixing and mastering should be done by different people and I completely agree with this.
It’s mainly about the arrangement and selection of sounds, not so much the mixing - selecting the right sounds during the creative process is key to achieving great sound. The sounds must be carefully chosen and need to work well with each other. This is not easy to achieve but it gets easier with practice, especially when you are focusing on it. Always keeping in mind what you already have in the track and what frequency ranges you got covered. For example, a couple of things to mention, I try to avoid adding high melodies during a part of the track with vocals. Same goes with selecting different synths. Unless you want to achieve a certain effect, as a general rule closely sounding synths should be avoided. And the list goes on.
DAW does NOT matter at all - It's all about the time and effort one put in to learn the craft. All the different DAWs have pros and cons, but they provide pretty much the same ability to work with sound. I have worked with a few different programs and learned that with each there is a learning curve, but once you get used to working with the software it just gets easier, but then you need to know the basics of audio production to use the tools that are available for you.
Gear barely matters - Just like with choosing a DAW, gear barely matters. It's mainly a lot of work and getting used to the way your environment sounds, even if it is your built-in audio card with a pair of cheap headphones. If I am to say the minimum required that would be an audio interface and proper speakers or headphones, because most importantly you need to hear right at first place. Everything else just adds to it. You don't necessarily need Maschine, fancy MIDI controllers or an MPC. I was using my computer keyboard as the piano keyboard in Reason 3 for 3-4 years before I got my first MIDI keyboard and I still loved it and enjoyed every minute spent.
Submitted February 21, 2018 at 09:55PM by apomakesmusic https://www.reddit.com/r/edmproduction/comments/7zas1k/common_misconceptions/?utm_source=ifttt
Javier Rodriguez
Wednesday, February 21, 2018